It’s one thing to try to explain, but it’s another to have lived it; to understand. Harmir: I know you understand, my friend. Jesus, it’s all gone on forever already. People on the outside always think they understand, but you can see that they don’t; it’s a conceit and little more.

—

The world is full of so many beautiful people, yet only a few of them will ever find their way into your life, and once they do, it won’t be long before you lose track of one another again. Then later, you’ll remember them and wonder what’s happened to them, but you won’t be able to track them down… and if you do, they won’t be the person you were looking for.

—

Things on the near West Side I remember fondly:

Chapman

O.P. and the Glendale Plaza

Independence Day Festival

Knowing you were in TCG territory

Basketball at the Police Athletic League

The Hook

The International Peace Garden

The alley that ran between the circle and the Glendale/Montgomery neighborhood

The tracks

Things on the near West Side I don’t think fondly of:

Fighting

Josh Boyd getting killed in a drive-by

The shitty Italian restaurant on 9th

When O.P. got shut down

The Mormons

Run-down UTA Routes 13 (9th West St.) and 17 (Poplar Grove)

—

Nearly done with Project 51. May finish up tonight. Best beers at The Pub so far: Aventinus Eisbock, Duchesse De Bourgogne, Three Floyds Behemoth, Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, Ommegang.

—

The thing that I didn’t expect about graduate school was the sense that I am less connected to the rest of the world, rather than moreso. It takes a lot more effort to maintain some level of awareness here; if you’re not vigilant for a couple of weeks, the “real world” leaves you behind. I shudder to think how odd and isolated I’d become if I were to live here for a decade or two, working as hard as the Ph.D. candidates do.